Agriculture minister and Awami League presidium member Dr Md Abdur Razzaque has called on developed countries, international banks, donor agencies and private investors to invest in making Bangladesh's agricultural production sustainable and transforming the farm sector.

Prioritising four sectors in Bangladesh's investment plan, namely cold storage and post-harvest management, agro-processing and marketing, climate-smart agriculture, and irrigation and water management, the minister said Tk 15,000 crore of investment is needed in these areas over the next five years. These sectors are very promising and would be profitable for investment in Bangladesh's agriculture, he said.

He made the call on the morning of Tuesday, 18 October, at the opening and a later session of the "investment conference" of the World Food Forum of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, Italy, according to a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture.

FAO director general Qu Dongyu, chief economist Torero Cullen and representatives of international banks, donor agencies and private investors spoke at the conference. Members of the Bangladesh delegation present included ambassador in Rome Shameem Ahsan, Ministry of Agriculture additional secretary Ruhul Amin Talukder, Rice Research Institute director general Shahjahan Kabir and Rome embassy economic counsellor Manas Mitra.

In the scheduled session, the minister presented Bangladesh's agricultural investment plans, needs and opportunities.

The minister said Bangladesh has achieved remarkable success in agricultural production under the current government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. But it lags well behind in agro-processing and farm exports, even though these areas have immense potential.

He called in particular for rapid investment in cold storage, post-harvest management, processing and marketing for four products: potatoes, onions, mangoes and tomatoes.

He said the country still has little technology and no cold storage for preserving vegetables including onions, mangoes and tomatoes, and 25-40 percent of these products are lost after harvest.

Describing Bangladesh's investment infrastructure and government facilities in detail, the minister said the country has a sound investment climate. "So come forward and invest," he said.

FAO is working to increase investment to transform the farm sector, and organised the two-day investment conference on 18-19 October for that purpose.

Twenty countries from around the world that most need foreign investment in agriculture are taking part. The World Bank, the Arab Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Development Bank of Latin America and other international banks, donor agencies and private investors are also attending.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.